Banning Lewis Ranch neighborhood bounces back
A Colorado Springs subdivision is recovering from lofty expectations and a recession to become what its developer called the city’s most successful master plan development.
Banning Lewis Ranch, in the city’s northeast corner, is benefiting from the area’s booming housing market and has increased new home construction and sales.
“We usually build around 120 homes a year, but we’re on pace for 200,” said Kevin Wade, spokesman for Oakwood Homes, BLR’s developer. “People are buying homes before we can build them. We have people on waiting lists.”
When the city annexed the huge parcel of property in 1988, it was hailed as “the future of Colorado Springs” and was a driving force in the construction of the Southern Delivery System water pipeline.
Plans called for a self-supporting community with homes, churches, schools, businesses, recreational facilities and nearly 200,000 residents.
Those plans, however, were scaled back after the economic slump in 2008 that left several builders declaring bankruptcy. Oakwood Homes bought most of the BLR property two years later, and a slow recovery has accelerated in the past year.
“I think we have enough land to keep building for another 15 or 20 years,” Wade said.
However, BLR’s resurgence has raised concern on the City Council. Earlier this week, three members voted against a measure that will change the zoning on a southern parcel from commercial to residential — clearing the way for more homes to be built.
The measure passed by a vote of 6-3.
“Commercial development brings in revenue for the city, through sales tax,” said Don Knight, who cast one of the opposing votes. “More residential development becomes a burden on the budget, because we have to provide public safety and other services.”
Knight said BLR’s original master plan had an equal balance of residential, commercial and industrial development, and he wants the plan to be reviewed and updated so that it maintains the balance.
“We weren’t told how this would affect the big picture,” Knight said. “If we allow this developer to do it, another developer or builder might expect us to allow it, as well.”
Knight also said one dissenting Council member believes BLR needs more affordable housing priced under $200,000.
“Our mean home price is about that much, which is $50,000 less than the rest of the market,” Wade said. “No one else is really doing that, and we appeal to a wide range of buyers.”
Kimberly Gillispie and Ken Griswold recently bought a home in BLR and said they like the amenities, such as a water park and a clubhouse.
“It reminds us a lot of Texas, where we’re from,” Griswold said.
Gillispie said she likes the size of BLR as it is.
“I don’t want a big neighborhood,” she said.
It may already be too late to prevent it.
As an example of the expected growth, BLR and School District 49 held a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday for a new charter high school that will cost around $18 million and open next fall.
The school actually will be an expansion of the existing Banning Lewis Preparatory Academy, which currently has grades K-8. Grades six through eight will move to the high school when it opens.
